DISSEMINATING COGNITIVE THERAPY IN ADVANCED COGNITIVE STUDIES
Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre in collaboration with the University of Oxford

The 2010-11 ACTS Diploma and 2011-12 ACTS MSc has been postponed.

It will now begin in 2011 and will take a new ‘modularized’ format. This means that students will have a choice of :

· taking the five modules which comprise the Diploma (Supervision, Training, Research, Clinical updates and Service development) within one year, or

· taking modules over a longer period of time, thus gradually building up the CATS points needed for the Diploma.

We hope that this will make the course more accessible to more students.

Further details of the new ACTS course will follow shortly.

CBT has the potential to help a wide range of patients with common mental health problems and with more complex, severe mental health needs. Current Dept of Health guidelines highlight the evidence for its effectiveness and support the need to increase its accessibility to patients.

CBT training in the UK has recently increased at an unprecedented rate: the number of Diploma courses offering training in CBT has continued to grow and in 2008, the government implemented a large-scale initiative for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) within the National Health Service. Between 2008 and 2011 nearly 4000 therapists will be trained to provide CBT. This represents a huge investment in post-graduate Diploma level training in CBT which will create a pool of cognitive therapists, with the knowledge and skills required to achieve accreditation as competent to practise cognitive behaviour therapy. The success of such an investment rests on the ability of trainers and supervisors to disseminate CBT effectively and clinicians, however well trained as therapists, are not necessarily equipped with the knowledge and skills they need in order effectively and confidently to disseminate what they need to other practitioners. The demand for good quality CBT within the NHS and in other settings will persist and continued training will be necessary to meet demands, to keep waiting lists in check, and in order to attain IAPT’s goal. Optimum training will be achieved most effectively by competent CBT disseminators.

In addition, the emphasis in the NHS on clinical governance, and the development of accreditation standards for practitioners (and for supervisors) by bodies such as the BABCP means that the demand for properly trained and supervised CT trainers and supervisors is growing.

The most efficient & cost-effective way to increase access to CT in the NHS, and to meet accreditation requirements, is to offer advanced training to experienced cognitive therapists, who will be ideally placed to disseminate the approach in their own localities. This is what the Advanced Cognitive Therapy Studies (ACTS) course is designed to achieve.

Why Oxford?

Oxford is internationally known as a centre of excellence in CT. It has an unusually rich concentration of acknowledged experts in the approach, who combine clinical expertise with extensive experience in teaching, supervision and research. The group includes members with special interests in enhancing clinical practice, training and supervision skills, research, and organisational development. This concentration of expertise has led to the establishment of the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (providing training, supervision, clinical literature and therapy), and to the continuing success over 18 years of the Oxford Diploma in Cognitive Therapy and the recent establishment of the Oxford MSt in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. Founded by Dr. Melanie Fennell, the ACTS course has been running for five years and it already has an excellent reputation. It is also currently the only established course in CBT dissemination.

Like the Oxford Diploma and MSt. the ACTS course is offered in collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Department of Continuing Education and will lead to an award of the University.

Course Aim

To offer high quality advanced training and supervision to experienced CT practitioners, enhancing their own clinical knowledge and skills and helping them to become skilled disseminators who in turn, through teaching and supervision as well as their own clinical work, will increase patient access to CT.

Course Participants

Places will be offered to 15 - 18 applicants. We are looking for experienced cognitive therapists who:
• Have a professional qualification in a relevant area (e.g. nursing, clinical or counseling psychology, psychiatry, occupational therapy, social work)
• Have acquired sufficient grounding in CT theory and practice to be eligible for accreditation according to established BABCP criteria [see www.babcp.com for details]
• Can demonstrate ongoing CPD in CT
• Have treated a range of patients with CT, including a variety of different problem areas and both simple and complex cases
• Are using CT as a primary therapeutic approach with patients
• Are actively engaged in delivering specialist CT supervision and training
• Are committed to disseminating CT in the NHS or other appropriate settings
Given this level of experience and commitment, we anticipate that participants will have much to offer each other, and will be prepared to take an active role in their own learning.

Course content

CT practitioners need a combination of theoretical and research knowledge, technical and interpersonal clinical skills. In addition, CT trainers and supervisors need to be able to facilitate learning in therapists at all stages of development, and to manage the training process and the supervisory relationship effectively. They may well also be engaged in service development, organising both clinical initiatives and initiatives in training and supervision. Accordingly, the course covers five main topic areas:

• Updating and enhancing knowledge of clinical theory and research, and refining the ability to apply theory and research to clinical practice
• Knowledge of supervision principles and practice in supervision skills, including receiving direct feedback on supervision practice
• Knowledge of training principles and practice in training skills, including identification of training needs, design, delivery and evaluation of interactive training
• Research skills for the working clinician, including critical evaluation of CT’s evidence base, and integration of research principles and methods into routine clinical practice
• Developing CT services in NHS settings, including organisational issues and models of good practice.